Hold NEET as per schedule: apex court

5/2/2016

The Supreme Court refused to play ball to the Centre's U-turn, saying the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) will be held as per schedule in two phases on May 1 and July 24.

The Centre, on Friday morning subitted before the court that it will be “very difficult” to hold the common entrance exam for undergraduate medical and dental courses in several States this academic year.

The apex court told the government to file a proper application, which would only be considered in due course.

"We passed our order after hearing all the parties. We will not examine this again now. Let the exams continue [as per schedule]," Justice Anil R. Dave told Additional Solicitor-General Pinky Anand.

Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi said in the morning that it was "difficult" to hold NEET this year in two phases as State medical entrance exams were on, many were coming up and many already over.

Responding to this, the court said it would not go into all that as of now.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court gave the green signal to the CBSE to hold the NEET 2016-17 in two phases and approved the Medical Council of India's schedule for the common entrance exams for undergraduate medical and dental courses starting May 1.

A Bench of Justices Dave, S.K. Singh and A.K. Goel revived the NEET across all States despite strong protests from States such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, which said that it was too late.